[Rank]
Ss. Septem Fundat. Ord. Servorum B. M. V.;;Duplex;;3;;vide C5

[RankNewcal]
Seven Holy Founders of the Order of the Servants of Mary;;Duplex optional;;2

[Oratio]
Lord Jesus Christ, who, that thou mightest recall to mind the woes of thy most holy Mother, didst through the Seven blessed Fathers make thy Church herself the mother of a new household of her servants, grant unto us in mercy that we may so share their tears as to share their blessedness also.
$Qui vivis

[Capitulum Vespera]
!1 Pet 4:13
v. Dearly beloved brethren, rejoice, inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
$Deo gratias

[Versum 1]
V. These were merciful men whose righteousness hath not been forgotten.
R. Their seed and their glory shall not be blotted out.

[Ant 1]
Thy praises, O Virgin Mary, shall not depart * from the mouths of men which remember the power of God for ever, because thou hast not spared thy life for our afflictions.

[Hymnus Matutinum]
v. When war was raging, and the town
Was red with blood of brother bands,
Our Virgin Mother bowed her down
With bounteous hands.
_
Seven faithful sons she bid to share
Her dolours, all the shame and loss,
Which Jesus suffered and she bare
Beneath His Cross.
_
Soon as their Lady called, as nought
They deemed their palaces and wealth,
The mountains, desert places, sought
Far off, by stealth.
_
For others' sins the scourge they plied
As they the way of penance trod,
By prayers and tears they turned aside
The wrath of God.
_
Token of love the Mother's hand
Gave to her sons their garb of woe,
Sanctioned the pious work they planned
With wondrous show.
_
The vine to spread their honours wide
Her shoots in winter greenly flung;
See, those are Mary's servants, cried
The infant tongue.
_
Now to the Father thanks and praise;
To Thee, O Son, the same we send;
To Thee, O Spirit, through all days,
World without end.
Amen.

[Lectio4]
In the thirteenth century, when the more cultured parts of Italy were rent by the dread dissension of the Emperor Frederick the Second and by bloody civil wars, the mercy of God set forth diverse men eminent for holiness, and among others raised up seven nobles of Florence, who were bound one to another in charity and gave an illustrious example of brotherly love. Their names were Bonfiglio Monaldi, Bonajuncta Manetti, Manetto Antalli, Amadeo de' Amidei, Uguccio de' Uguccioni, Sosteneo de' Sostenei, and Alexis de' Falconieri. Upon the holiday of the Assumption of the Virgin into heaven in the year
1233 they were praying in the oratory of a guild called the Guild of Praise, when the same Mother of God appeared to each one of them, and bade them embrace a life of greater holiness and perfection. These seven men discussed the matter with the Bishop of Florence, and then, considering neither the nobility of their birth nor their wealth, and clad in haircloth under vile and worn - out garments, withdrew into a little house in the country upon the th day of September, that they might begin their holier life upon the same day whereon the Mother of God herself had by her birth begun her life of holiness upon earth.

[Lectio5]
She showed by a miracle how acceptable in His sight should be their manner of life, for a short while after, when these seven men were begging alms from door to door through the city of Florence, it came to pass that some children, among whom was holy Philip Benizi, who had then scarcely entered the fifth month of his age, called them blessed Mary's servants, by the which name they were called ever after. To avoid meeting people, and in the desire to be alone, they all withdrew together to the solitude of Monte Senario, and there began a kind of heavenly life. They lived in caves and upon herbs and water only, while they wore out their bodies with watching and other hardships, while they contemplated unweariedly the sufferings of Christ and the woes of His most sorrowful Mother. One Good Friday, when their thoughts were fixed thereon more than ever, the Blessed Virgin appeared to them twice, and showed them her garments of mourning as those wherein they should clothe themselves. She bade them know that she would take it right well that they should raise up in the Church a new order to recall the memory of the sorrows which she bore beneath the Cross of the Lord. Holy Peter, the illustrious martyr of the Order of Friars Preachers, learnt this not only from his familiar converse with these holy men, but also from a special vision of the Mother of God, and it was on his incitement that they founded the regular Order called that of the Servites, or servants of the Blessed Virgin, the which Order was afterward approved by the Supreme Pontiff Innocent IV.

[Lectio6]
These holy men, when they had gathered to themselves some companions, began to go through the cities and towns of Italy, and especially of Tuscany, everywhere preaching Christ crucified, stilling contests among the citizens, and calling back almost countless backsliders into the path of grace. Neither did they make Italy only the field of their Gospel labours, but also France, Germany, and Poland. They passed away to be ever with the Lord when they had spread far and wide a sweet savour of Christ, and were famous also for the glory of signs and wonders. As one love of brotherhood and of the monastic life had joined them together upon earth, so one grave held their dead bodies, and one honour was paid them by the people. For this reason the Supreme Pontiffs Clement XI. and Benedict XIII. confirmed the honour whicfl had for centuries been paid to them individually, and Leo XIII., after proof of their miracles which had been wrought by God on the common invocation of these saints, after their veneration had been sanctioned in the jubilee year of his priesthood, decreed to them the honours paid to Saints, and ordered that their memory should every year be kept throughout the universal Church with an office and Mass.

[Hymnus Laudes]
v. The Fathers lived a life in shade,
Yet seemed to Peter's vision seven
White glistening lilies, for the Maid,
The Queen of Heaven.
_
Through city street, o'er hills and plains,
Upborne by Love Divine, they trod,
To fix in men the Mother's pains,
The swords of God.
_
This was the power in which they spoke
Till each wild passion owned their sway:
They cheered the sad, from sinners broke
Their chains away.
_
Till at the last the Virgin Queen
Led them to mansions in the sky,
Mansions where garlands aye are green,
And never die.
_
May they hear cries of all who pray,
And see how hard our earthly strife;
Aiding us onward to the day
When all is life.
_
Now to the Father thanks and praise;
To Thee, O Son, the same we send;
To Thee, Great Spirit, through all days,.
World without end.
Amen.

[Versum 2]
V. May their memory be blessed.
R. And let their bones flourish again out of their place.

[Ant 2]
Behold how good * and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.

[Hymnus Vespera 3]
v. Why Mary's inspiration led,
A sevenfold offspring comes to light;
At Mary's call away they sped
To Mount Senario's rugged height.
_
What fruits of grace the earth shall bear
When they have sown their seed divine!
Christ's vine shall bud with clusters rare,
Empurpled with the ruddy wine.
_
A holy death to heaven speeds
The souls with virtue's glory crowned;
When Mary for her servants pleads,
Heaven's blessed portals they have found.
_
O happy souls who now obtain
The Kingdom, and the sceptre bear,
Look down on us who still remain
Where Satan spreads his subtle snare.
_
Therefore on bended knee we pray,
For sake of Mary's bitter grief;
Chase darkness from our mind away,
And give our troubled hearts relief.
_
And Thou, O Trinity Divine!
Confirm us in Thy Holy Grace!
That as we may our hearts incline
To walk in these thy servants' ways.
Amen.

[Ant 3]
Their name * endureth for ever, enduring unto their sons, the glory of holy men.

[Lectio94]
In the thirteenth century there were seven Florentine noblemen namely Buonfiglio Monaldo, Buonaiuncta Manetti, Manetto del Antella, Amadeus de Amadei, Hugo Lippi, Gerard Sostegni, and Alexis Falconieri, who withdrew to a little hut in the country to meditate on the Passion of Christ and the sorrows of His grieving Mother. The Blessed Virgin appeared to them on Good Friday holding out a dark habit which they were to wear; and she made it known that it would be most pleasing to her if they should found a new order of religious who would reverence and foster the memory of the sorrows which she had suffered as she stood beneath the Lord's Cross. Then these holy men, with the help of St. Peter the Martyr of the Order of Preachers, founded the Order of Servants of the Blessed Virgin and, with their companions, began to go about through cities and towns, everywhere preaching Christ crucified, by word and by example. And, as one love had united them in a true brotherhood during life, one grave received them when they died, and they were venerated as one by popular devotion. Clement XI and Benedict XIII, therefore, confirmed this common veneration which had been paid to them, and Leo XIII enrolled them among the Saints.
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